Educational game board



B. L. MARTIEN EDUCATIONAL GAME BOARD Y Filed July 50. 1926 10 I .W- a I// uwuuunnumtrm 4 .9 I I @13 jeflim $.MQFZZ6M awvemto'c Patented May 1.,

warren *s'rA'rss BER'IHA L. MARTIEN, O1? WASHINGTON, DISTRICT. OF COLUMBTA.

v EDUCATIONAL GAME BOARD.

Application filed July 30, 1926. Serial No. 125,999.

This invention relates to an educational.

game board designed primarily for use in teaching the braille system to blind persons, one of the objects of the invention being to provide a board divided into intersecting columns of depressions for the reception of blocks or genie pieces on which are arranged projections indicating the letters of the alphabet and numerals as used in the braille or other systems of instruction.

A further object is to provide a board of this type which is cheap to manufacture and can be utilized for amusing as well as edueating the pupil, it being possible, for example, to arrange crossword puzzles to be solved by placing blocks representing the proper letters in the spaces provided for them.

With the foregoing and other objects in View which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it'being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed may be made within the scope of what is claimed, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings the preferred form of the invention has been shown.

In said drawings,

Figure 1 is a plan view of the game board.

Figure 2 is a section on line 2-2, Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a PGYSPGClTlVO view of a border strip to be used with the board, said strip being inverted.

Figure 4 is a perspective View of one of the blocks or game pieces on an enlarged scale.

Referring to the ligurcsby characters of reference 1 designates a game board which can be of any desired construction. In the present instance the same is formed of up per and lower layers 2 and 3 of a composition such as linoleum mounted upon opposite faces of a reinforcing fabric 4:. The up per layer is provided with recesses or pockets 5 formed by cutting away the material or by molding and these pockets or recesses are arranged in longitudinal and transverse columns separated by thin partitions 6. The marginal portion of the board can be formed with largerecesses 7 for the reception of the blocks or game pieces used in connection with the board, these game pieces being grouped in any desired. manner within the recesses 7. For example all blocks representing the letters A, B and C can be placed in one recess. Another setof blocks representing other letters can be deposited in a second recess. This arrangement can be followed around the board.

The game pieces can be of any material. preferred and so shaped as to fit within any of the recesses 5. These game pieces, some of which have been indicated at 8, have projections 9 following the arrangement used in the braille or other systems of instruction whereby the letters of the alphabet and the numerals are designated.

In connection with the board there may be used one or more strips of thin material two of which have been illustrated at 10. Each strip'is provided on one face with one or more projections 11 which, when seated in the corresponding recess or recesses in the board, will hold the strip against sliding movement.

In the structure illustrated the working portion of the board is shown divided into fifteen rows of recesses, each row containing fifteen recesses. l Vhen it is desired to reduce the size of the working portion of the board one or more of the strips 10 can be arranged thereon and the area defined thereby and by the sides of the working portion of the board will be the area in which the work is to be done by the pupil. In Figure 1 the area of the board has been shown reduced to eight lines of fifteen recesses or spaces each. 'Blocks spelling out different words can be arranged as desired within the recesses by the instructor or by the pupil and by filling some of the spaces with blank blocks corresponding with the blank spaces of a cross word puzzle the pupil can be furnished with definitions of words and told to fill in the remainingspaces with the proper selections. Thus it will be seen that the board can be used both for the in struction and. amusement of pupils. Be cause of its compact and light construction it can be conveniently manipulated and the use of the recesses and blocks prevent the letters from becoming displaced accidental- 1y after being positioned on the board.

What is claimed is:

1. A board having longitudinal and transverse columns of spaces, each space providing a recess, said columns being separated by relatively thin partitions, a strip adjustably mounted on the board for overlying selected spaces and reducing the working area, means on the strip insertible into selected spaces thereunder for holding the strip against sliding displacement in any direction relative to the board and a. number of blocks adapted to be positioned Within the recesses said blocks having means thereon for indicating characters used in a system for instruction of: the blind.

2. A board having transverse rows of spaces, said spaces being separated by relatively thin partitions and constituting blockreceiving recesses, blocks for insertion in the recesses bearing projection arranged to designate characters of a system of instruction of the blind, a strip adjustably mounted on the board for overlying selected spaces in the board and restricting the Working area of the board and, a projection on the strip for downward insertion into one of the recesses to hold the strip against sliding displacement in any direction.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto aiiixed my signature.

' BERTHA L. MARTIEN. 

